IMPLEMENTING THE NEXT STEPS'
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1988.tb00705.x |
| Date | 01 December 1988 |
| Author | ANDREW FLYNN,WILLIAM JENKINS,ANDREW GRAY,BRIAN RUTHERFORD |
| Published date | 01 December 1988 |
SYMPOSIUM
ON IMPROVING MANAGEMENT IN GOVERNMENT
439
House of Commons Committee
of
Public
Accounts.
1987.
Thirteenth
Report.
The
fimciaf
management
MacDonnell Majority Report.
1914.
Fourth report
of
the royal commission
on
the civil service.
Cd.
May Report.
1931.
Report of the committee
on
national expenditure.
Crnnd.
3920.
London:
Mueller, A.
1985.
The civil service in the year
2000.
CPFA
Centenary Conference.
19
June
1985.
National Audit Office.
1986.
The financial management initiative.
HC
588 (1985-86).
London:
kibfw.
Peters,
T.
J.
and
R.
H. Waterman.
1982.
In
search of excellence.
Lessons
from
America’s best
run
Robertson,
K.
G.
1982.
Public secrets. A study in the development of government secrecy.
London:
Treasury.
1987.
Working patterns. A study document by the Cabinet Office (Management and
Walten, A.
1986.
Britain’s economic renaissance. Margaret Thatcher’s reforms
1979-1984.
Oxford:
initiative.
HC
61 (1986-87).
London:
HMSO.
7338.
London:
HMSO.
HSMO.
companies.
New
York:
Harper and Row.
Maanillan.
Personnel Office).
Oxford University Press.
IMPLEMENTING
THE
NEXT
STEPS’
The Efficiency Unit’s report
(1988)
led to mixed reactions. Ideas that the civil
service could be ’revolutionized through the creation of agencies found support
amongst all sections of the press and many politicians. Yet caveats were registered
not least on what these proposals meant both for parliamentary accountability
and for the structure and operations of public administration. With such issues
in mind the Treasury and Civil Service Committee set up an inquiry into the
report. The committee reported in late July
(HC
494-1). Amongst those who
gave evidence to it were Peter Kemp, the civil servant directing the implementa-
tion of
The
Next
Steps,
Sir Robin Ibbs, the Prime Minister‘s Adviser on Efficiency,
Sir Robin Butler, Head
of
the Home Civil Service and Sir Peter Middleton,
Permanent Secretary to the Treasury. To these were added various
MPs
(John
Garrett and Michael Heseltine), William Plowden, Director General of the
RIPA,
and other interested parties. This short article traces the committee’s investigations,
and examines its conclusions. It is perhaps significant that the main audience
for the committee’s hearings were civil servants presumably anxious to hear
what their future might be. As will be seen information on agencies is at
present limited and often ambiguous, a state of affairs that might not be wholly
accidental.
WHY
AGENCIES?
Most books on policy bemoan the problems that can arise when an organization
adopts conflicting objectives. As
The Next Steps
was intended to improve manage-
ment one would hope that this would not arise. Instead, a number
of
justifica-
tions appear to be emerging for agencies which, while hindering any future attempt
at evaluation, may facilitate the process of implementation.
The Ibbs report recognized that the government’s reforms had made progress
as departments adopted management systems and became more cost conscious.
To continue reading
Request your trial